Sandstone figure of
Chamunda

From Orissa, eastern India, 9th century
AD

The fierce, protective eight-armed
mother

The Great Hindu goddess Devi takes many forms:
benign, sensuous and maternal at one level, horrifying and powerful
at another. Chamunda, with her skeletal frame and staring socket
eyes, is one of her fiercest manifestations, associated with
corpses and even sacrifical rituals. Her name derives from her
victory over the demons Chanda and
Munda.

Chamunda's
role as one of the seven mother goddesses (the Saptamatrika) seems
strange at first, but one aspect of her is as a protector. Her
powerful nature is highlighted by the weapons (thunderbolt, trident
and sword) with which she fights back the demons of ignorance and
ego. She also carries a skull-cap and severed head. Her image
becomes all the more terrifying with her skeletal anatomy, sagging
breasts, sinewy neck, her jewellery made of bone, skulls and snakes
and the vanquished figure on whom she
sits.

Chamunda is closely
related to the other fierce Hindu goddess, Kali. Both, according to
myth, haunt cremation grounds and are known to dance a terrifying
dance of all-consuming destruction. In this destruction, according
to the Hindu view, lies the seed of
regeneration.